


I Want to Rule the World

by actualPrincess



Series: Tales from The Apartment [6]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Collegestuck, F/M, House Party, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, M/M, Mutual Pining, Non-Consensual Drug Use, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 02:43:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7490115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actualPrincess/pseuds/actualPrincess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A house party can only take place if there's a good DJ right? Luckily Dave Strider is just what the apartment ordered. Unfortunately, what they didn't order was a boatload of trouble and mixed feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Be the DJ ==>

Dark lighting. The only real illumination coming from the colorful flashing lights on either side of the makeshift stage. Said stage being a, admittedly very sturdy, dining room table. A great writer whose name you can’t remember at the moment once said that all you need for a stage is a performance. Which you suppose is the only thing separating this stage from a table. You wonder idly where Jane managed to get this table and if this is one of the uses that she had in mind when she got it, because at the moment the “stage” was holding a set of turntables and a set of mixing equipment and faders. Basically you’re set to DJ, which is exactly what you’re doing.

Your name? Dave Strider, and you’re in your element. Fingers flying over dials and switches like a dance, headphones draped around your neck loosely and signature aviators firmly in place. You’re currently busy DJing for one of you and your roommates’ legendary house parties. By your best guess there’s nearly one hundred people crammed into your apartment. Which would have been more trouble if you didn’t have an entire floor of the building. You know there are people still waiting to get in the door though.

By this point in the semester people know your name. Not only because of your status as one of twenty triple majors, but because you DJ the best parties on campus. Well, not on campus, there’s no way the university would tolerate this much drinking. You’re pretty happy bringing music to the masses, especially when they could use a taste of good music. 

You actually have a new sound kit you’ve been trying out all evening and it’s going pretty well so far. It’s not like it’s anything outrageous but you’re trying to gauge whether it was worth the cash you dropped on it. You can be a bit… protective of you money. But there’s no way to rely on the kit alone, you have a few samples from your friends. All of whom are also musically inclined: a few pieces of John’s piano, some violin from Rose, bass and flute from Jade, a bit of Roxy’s singing, basic stuff. The tricky part is actually getting the recordings, John hates it, Roxy always goes too hard too fast, same with Jade, and Rose refuses to let her experimental stuff be recorded. So most of this is from you sneaking around.

When you play final mixes you love seeing the surprise on your roommates’ faces.

Tonight it’s all freestyled though. You like it better this way, just flowing with the music and feeling the bass kick in your chest, sparing glances to the writhing mass of people in front of you. Sometimes one of your friends will come sit near the stage, or hand you a water. Occasionally your brother will get it in his head to start rap battles, or Roxy will come on stage and freestyle a song with your music. Not tonight though, tonight Dirk looks like he’s trying to find a quick hookup, and Roxy is dancing with Jane.

The song you’d been working with ends and you shift effortlessly into John’s piano playing. Softer bass behind it, a few distorted vocalizations from Roxy, and a snare from your new kit, working your way to the first drop and enjoying the fairy squad mother’s voice. You have to turn off the distortion for the next part, like you said, you like seeing your friend’s faces when they hear themselves.

“I want to rule the world…” You see Roxy look up and whoop as the bass drops, grinning ear to ear. You scan the crowd for John and see that he’s being accosted by some girl in one of the corners. Grimacing you drop his piano further in the background and add in a few more drums, using Roxy’s vocals for the beat. You’re not jealous. Striders don’t get jealous. Besides John wouldn’t go for that chick, she’s not his type. John’s her type though, fucker is everybody’s type. Why couldn’t John go back to being the dumb dorky kid from highschool? He’s so painfully nice, laughing and letting himself be dragged onto the dance floor for this chick to grind on him. You’re not jealous. You’re launching into the next song.

“Mother- mother- mother- mother-” Jade’s voice descends in a mock scale, all manipulated by you of course, “fucker!” She yells back in her normal pitch. Jade’s songs always need to be edited a bit. She doesn’t sing a lot, if ever, but you think her yelling at video games can work just as well. As long as there’s a dampener on her volume, no need to blow out your speakers. This song is a bit closer to straight trap music. You see one of the guys from the lower floors look up at your table in recognition before shaking his head and going back to his conversation. 

Jade Harley always has some choice rants to choose from, the Harley-Englishes can be scary when they want to be. You haven’t slept in Jade’s room since you found that gun under her pillow. Not to mention how unbearably humid it is in there, freaking greenhouse. You’re not sure all the plants in there are legal in the US. There’s no way you’re asking her though. This particular bout of cursing is from one of her sessions playing Call of Duty with some online douchebags. You’re pretty sure she’s “friends” with them all, but she’s had a really fucking intense rivalry going on with someone she only refers to as “Carcino”. Personally you think it would be hilarious for her to meet them in person, maybe get an all out brawl out of it, you could sell tickets before hand.

Some girl asks if you take requests. She’s cute so you shrug,

“Depends.” You say, barely pausing to look at her.

“Taylor Swift?” You smirk and her face reddens.

“Now you’re playing to the white girl in me. You got yourself a deal.” You’re nearly done with this song anyway, and you have a near infinite library of music so t-swift is easy enough. The girl beams at you and rushes back into the crowd excitedly, probably to tell her friends. Great. You make one exception, now everyone is going to be up here asking for something. You let your tables spin, the beat fading and resurging a few times as you bring up something you can work with, already listening to the music in your head.

“Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad- ‘cause baby now we got bad, bad, bad, bad blood.” Cue the drop and you hear a few girls scream from the crowd. Frowning, you look for John again, he’s looking a little uncomfortable with the girl who dragged him out on the floor. You lock eyes with him and raise a brow questioningly. He says something to her before moving expertly through the crowd towards the stage. You pull your headphones up over your ears and pretend to be more preoccupied with the music, fingers still dancing over the board. Who are you kidding, there isn’t a need to pretend, music is like your life blood.

John hops up to sit on the edge of the table, watching the crowd idly. You know it’s much louder over here than where he was so you dig around under your fader and toss him a pair of earplugs. He looks at you gratefully before stuffing them in his ears. It’s nice like this, just you with your music and John, the stage a little bubble, separate from the rest of the party. It hurts you just a bit but you cut off the last mix too soon, pulling up another of John’s piano pieces. He’s here so he’s sure to actually enjoy it.

Classical music is one of your guilty pleasures. Cool guys are supposed to listen to bands no one’s ever heard of, which you do, but it gets boring sometimes; classical music has always been there for you. It’s perfect for remixes and it helped you learn music theory. You don’t bring it out much for parties, but you have several folders of choral voices to overlay in your mixes. Which is what you’re doing now, composing some classical music with John’s piano as a base, and some of Rose’s violin experiments, before bringing in the drop and the electric beats. It’s one of John’s favorite styles, he always grins like a doofus when you give him new CDs of the stuff. Just like he’s smiling at you now, like he knows you’re doing it for him, it makes your heart clutch in your chest a little.

Your fingers slide effortlessly between buttons, knobs, switches, dampeners, faders, back to buttons, your own private dance. John nods his head a little to the beat, and you see him press his hand to his chest, like he wants to feel the bass rattle his bones. You close your eyes just feeling the beat, rhythm thrumming through your veins, melody swirling around you like a breeze. You open your eyes again, taking your hands off your equipment and staring out over the crowd. Bodies moving against each other, sharing an experience, some have their hands raised, some are trying to talk to their friends, most of them soaking up the music, your music. You did this. You love this. You look at John, you love him too.

John for his part, looks perfectly content without that knowledge.

You place your hands back on your equipment, resuming your dance and launching into the next song. It’s always the perfect moment to tell him, it’s never the right moment to tell him. You need to find a new significant other, try to soften some of this loneliness before you do something stupid.


	2. Be John ==>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Realizations are only half made.

John Egbert. Yep, that’s you! Tonight's been pretty good, you weren't sure throwing a party solely around Dave DJing but it turned out pretty great! You're amazed the dining table is still standing, what with all of Dave's jumping around and equipment. It's always nice seeing Dave in his element. Music always seems to break him out of his shell.

You idly wonder if there are any concerts nearby that you could drag him to. Dave would never admit it but he is the biggest sap post-concerts. You've tried before but it is physically impossible to stop his ranting about whatever band you've just seen, and you've had to carry him back to the hotel on multiple occasions because he can't always walk and talk at the same time.

So you're sort of looking forward to talking with Dave after the party. You've been doing “rounds” tonight, since it was Jane’s turn last night, and Rose’s the weekend before. Rounds consists of making sure no one is being an asshole and needs to be kicked out. It can also mean a lot of standing around though. Which is what you've been doing for the past few minutes. The crowd is so thick that you doubt anyone has room to be a dick. You don't mind, you like people watching.

Until a girl bumps into you, or is shoved into you. She apologizes profusely saying something about her friends and something else you can't really hear over the music. She asks if you have a girlfriend; you say no. She says something about your looks, you don't really care but you try to be polite and thank her. She giggles and asks if you'd want to go to her place after this.

“No thanks, I'm not really into the whole sex thing.”

“What? Are you gay or something?” You grimace, not really wanting to get into this.

“You want to dance?” She looks at you confused for a second.

“What?”

“Do you want to dance?” You ask a bit louder. She nods and drags you through the crowd with a smile. You don’t really mind, you’ll find a reason to get out of this soon enough. For now you’re sort of fine just letting the girl dance on you; you try to get a name out of her but she seems content to grind on you and try to convince you to go home with her. Not your area, sorry whatever-her-name-is.

It gets old quickly, especially when she starts giving you bedroom eyes and grabs your ass. You glance up at the “stage” and lock eyes (you think) with Dave who raises a brow at you questioningly. He’s giving you an out and you’ve never been more grateful to have him as a best bro.

“Hey, I just remembered I’m actually really gay. I’m in a homosexual relationship actually and my super gay boyfriend needs me right now to give him DJ advice.” You yell over the music, the girl gives you a confused look and tries to grab your hand as you slip away from her into the crowd. It takes a bit of maneuvering to get to the stage, Roxy is much better at this than you, but you make it to the Dave eventually. You hop up onto the stage and sit on the edge feet swinging idly. It hurts your ears to sit this close to the amps, but it only takes a second to feel a tap on your shoulder and see Dave offering you a pair of earplugs. You take them gratefully and stuff them into your ears, they muffle the sound enough to stop the hurt but not enough to drown out the music completely. 

The music changes to something more classical, one of your piano pieces. You hadn’t noticed Dave record this one, but with the choral vocals over it and Rose’s violin chiming in you don’t even hear the wrong note you know you played at the end. The beat drops and you can feel it rattle in your chest, you can’t help grinning at your best friend in the whole world. He makes the best music, you can’t believe sometimes that he can turn something you’ve made into something so incredibly beautiful. Dave gives you the barest hint of a smile before he’s back to flitting around his turntables. He looks so cool when he’s performing, head bobbing to the beat and thin hips swaying to the melody that he’s pumping out.

You press your hand to your chest to feel the beat there and smile a little to yourself. You love this; you love how Dave can bring people together, how he cares so much about your music that he incorporates it into his own, how he looks so content, how the light dances off his cheekbones and makes him glow, how the blond of his hair looks like a halo.

You really love your friend, maybe a little too much.


	3. Be Roxy ==>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You love your friends, you love tonight, nothing can tear you down.

You love the crowd, slipping in and out unnoticed was once an artform to you. Then again, so had downing alcoholic beverages like it was going out of style. Which it had, and fast. You’ve been off that particular ride for about four months now. After you realized you were in danger of losing your scholarship last semester if you didn’t shape your shit up. Luckily you have great friends.

“Roxy!” Speak of the devil. Your friend Jane is pulling some guy over to you with a pleading look in her eye. Looks like she needs someone to bite the bullet, she must be trying to ditch this guy and she knows you’re better at letting people down gently. Jane nearly dumps the guy in front of you, he smiles a little sheepishly at you before turning on the dirtbag charm. You have to admit, it goes with his lame ‘50s greaser aesthetic.

“Hey there dollface,” You roll your eyes, “Your friend was just tellin’ me you’re into harry potter. Not for nothin’ but I liked the dumb books when I was a kid, and thought it might be a good jumpin’ off point with a pretty girl like you.”

“Yeah wizards are great, you know my mom actually wrote a few books in the genre.” You talk with the guy for a few minutes, he actually might be nice if he wasn’t such a playboy wannabe, before you excuse yourself to go find Jane. You spare a glance up to the stage, Dave looks in his element, swaying to the music and dancing as much as a DJ can. Jane is trying to talk to one of the downstairs tenants about something, you think it might be about roof access, she spots you though and quickly excuses herself. Both of you sort of drag each other to the dance floor, or just closer to the writhing mass of people.

This is when you’re glad you can move through a crowd like water, soon enough you and Jane are in the thick of it, jumping around and half dancing. You know Dave is going to ask about the show tomorrow, he always does, he really needs to work on his self confidence. It’s nearly impossible to tell when he’s using some of you random singing vocalizations, they’ve been through so many mods and changes, but you’re happy to be able to add to the song.

“I want to rule the world,” You whoop, hearing the autotune drop off as the bass kicks in in full, “but I don’t know what I’d do./ Buy a fancy car/ and a bunch of diamonds too…” Jane grins, elbowing your side playfully. Tonight’s a good night you decide.


	4. Be Jade ==>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's more fun in not knowing.

Rose hands you a wad of cash when you bump into her. Your winnings from last night, since you’re still the reigning champ of arm wrestling in the building. The money is pocketed (into your boot) and you push through the crowd to the bar.

“Hey! Jade!” You look over your shoulder to see your hookup pushing through the crowd towards you. You grin and try not to rush over to him, he looks pretty eager to see you though; not that you can blame him, last night was pretty freaking spectacular. Oh what the hell. You pick up your pace and nearly launch yourself at him, he easily catches you and pushes his face against yours.

“Karkat! Hi!” You have a solid grip on his shoulders and his arms are around your waist like you’re in some cheesy romance movie. “Last night was… wow.” You say breathing in his air and feeling your stomach flip a little when he smiles sheepishly at you.

“Yeah I was-- I wanted to know if you’d, y’know, wanna go out some time, like actually go out not just meet and then fuck each other for most of the night.” He still hasn’t put you down and you casually wrap your legs around his waist to help keep yourself up. Luckily you’re in shorts and not a skirt.

“I’d love to.” You press your lips against his briefly and feel that spark you felt last night just the same as you remember it.

“How about tomorrow?” He asks and you laugh, rubbing your nose against his like you’ve been dating for years.

“I’m busy tomorrow, got a big vidya game match in the afternoon.” He blinks at you before swearing loudly.

“Fuck me too, I totally forgot. God damn shit sniffing-- and that fucking… fucking bitch is playing so I have to practice. How about friday?” You frown.

“Wait what are you playing?” 

“Call of Duty, this asshole Gardengnostic is playing tomorrow and I can’t let them get ahead of me in the rankings.” You drop your legs from around his waist and drop onto the floor.

“Um, no the asshole is Carcinogeneticist.” Karkat gives you a funny sort of pissed off look before realization hits the both of you.

“No.” He says, mouth hanging open. “Haha, fuck no you are not Garden.”

“You’re Carcino.” You stare at Karkat a second before you punch his shoulder. “I can’t believe I slept with you!” You yell, you’re furious. You think you know a guy.

“I can’t believe you’re good at something!” He retaliates.

“Excuse me? I’m not the fuckass that dropped the flag three times in a row last match.” Karkat rolls his eyes dramatically.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have dropped it if you could provide decent cover, where did you learn to shoot? The center for dicking idiots with no coordination?” You gasp.

“You’re the worst!”

“You’re the worst!”

You huff looking around angrily for something to hit Karkat --Carcino-- with then return your focus to him and grab his shirt to pull him down close enough to headbutt. Your fingers fist in his shirt and you tug him down as you push up with your toes; instead of the headbutt though you crash your lips together. Karkat’s fingers find their way into your hair as his other hand pushes against the small of your back to pull you closer against him. You’re still pissed but damn if this doesn’t feel good, all pushing and rough kisses.

You pull back enough to glare at Karkat.

“You’re objectively awful.” You mumble as he catches your lips in another kiss.

“At least I don’t stop in the middle of matches to talk to plants.” He responds and you can’t help smiling as you kiss him. Neither of you are going to be on your A game tomorrow if you spend the morning together like you did today, but right now you don’t really care.

“My room?” You breathe between kisses.

“Obviously.”


	5. Be Jake ==>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet a girl, and she's perfect.

Your name is Jake English and you are talking to the one that got away. Actually her name is Rebecca (Becca she tells you to call her) and she’s one of the sweetest girls you’ve ever talked to. She likes movies and weird music and she’s got all sorts of piercings in her ears you hadn’t noticed last night. She’s really gorgeous and you wish you could have seen her this morning. The two of you have been debating the progression of the Indiana Jones movies for the past few minutes while you look around for your best bro. You want to introduce her to him so you can prove that you’re not the only person on Earth that enjoyed “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.

You spot Dirk with some guy you don’t recognize. He seems friendly enough but Dirk looks uninterested as always. He takes a drink and the guy watches him do it, a little too closely. Dirk frowns and looks at his cup before he says something. The guy shrugs, says something back and tugs at Dirk’s arm. You see Dirk hesitate and tug his arm away, but the guy pulls him against his chest, gripping his hips too hard and kissing him like he was attacking Dirk’s mouth. A wave of possessiveness washes over you and you start to make your way towards him as a slim hand wraps around your arm and stops you.

“Jake? Where are you going?” Becca asks pulling you back to the situation. Right you were talking to the girl from last night, you’d really thought you two had had a connection last night so you’re glad to have the chance to talk to her again tonight. You watch Dirk push the guy off of him and smack him before turning away and disappearing into the crowd. The guy scowls and touches his cheek, you see his fingers twitch before he goes into the crowd as well. You turn your attention back to becca, to cropped blonde hair and warm brown eyes. She smiles at you and trails her hand down your arm to hold your hand.

“Let’s go dance?” She quirks the end up, tilting her head in question. You smile and nod, pushing into the crowd to dance with her. She’s very nice, and she seems to like you a lot, you wonder why she ran off this morning but know better than to ask. 

Becca threads your fingers together and dances with you in a way you can only describe as gracefully uncoordinated but endearing. You really don’t want this to have been a one night stand, so you’re about to try your darndest to make sure you get her number this time. Maybe she just didn’t want the awkwardness in the morning, or maybe she was just busy and had somewhere to be. No, no you’re not asking, you’re a gentleman. Becca’s business is her own.

You feel her arms loop around your shoulders and she smiles as she presses against you. It’s much much tamer than some of the other dancing going on but you can help it if your cheeks heat up.

“Would you want to go out sometime?” You ask over the music, Becca’s smile widens and she nods.

“I’d love to!” She yells back and you feel your heart melt a little at how happy she looks.


	6. Be Dirk ==>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet a boy, and you're starting to wish you hadn't.

You’ve been circling the party like a damn bird trying to find a decent hook up for the past hour or so. The best you found was some guy that seemed way too desperate and annoying after about ten minutes of talking to him. He said his name was Caliborn and he was a little too aggressive with his flirting for your tastes, not half as good looking as Jake either and definitely not your type. Well except for the muscle. Still you manage to ditch him and weave through the party. He keeps catching you though and it’s starting to get really fucking annoying. You’re a little pissed off the next time he offers to get you a drink, and you passive aggressively get your own just to spite him.

“Come on Strider, nice little twink like you needs a dick right?” Caliborn says, something in his voice makes you shiver and he takes that as incentive to try and get closer.

“I know you’re not talkin’ to me, ‘cause I ain’t a twink.” You glare at him from behind your shades.

“With that ass you are.” He laughs coldly, making you shiver for a much scarier reason. You hate this guy, suddenly and profoundly. He asks again if you want a drink and you say yes just to get him to leave you alone. As soon as he leaves you’re moving through the crowd again, trying to find someone to talk to that isn’t Caliborn.

No luck, he finds you first --apparently quick at mixing drinks-- and you are once more pulled into a boring and fruitless conversation.

Except this time you’re dragged over to the wall to talk. You take a drink and look around the party as he talks to you, bored. You note that this drink fucking sucks, much like the rest of the night, and try to focus on the music your brother is pumping out rather than the guy you’re talking to. Caliborn grabs your hips and pulls you against him as you move the cup from your mouth. You’re about to say something along the lines of “fuck off you piece of shit” but the guy is shoving his tongue down your throat before you can actually pull away. It feels like he’s trying to swallow you whole and his fingers are digging into your hips painfully, like he’s trying to force you to stay with him. You push him off of you and smack him as hard as you can, hell no. You are not about to do that, fuck hooking up tonight you don’t want anyone to touch you at all. 

You’re not actually over the gross feeling from this morning and there’s no way you want this guy’s lips on you. He doesn’t help the dirty feeling under your skin. You push into the crowd and try to flash step through it, not that you really can. You do successfully disappear into the crowd though.

That last drink has your head swimming, you wonder if whoever was on alcohol duty bought everclear or something instead of vodka. It seems like everyone on campus is hooked on the stuff but it’s never done much more than give you a nasty hangover. The drink hadn’t even tasted good, too salty. It hits you that things are starting to get a little weird, you head hurts and your vision is swimming. You swallow thickly and look around for one of your friends, something is seriously wrong. You spot the guy you were talking to and your skin crawls when he touches you, but your limbs are too heavy to push him away this time.

**Author's Note:**

> Things start kicking off and it's all because I like my AUs to hurt. Things get worse, don't worry.


End file.
